1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a film processing apparatus and method, and, more specifically, to an improved film processing apparatus and method of the type wherein a surface of the film is scrubbed.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In processing image-carrying films in which an image has been formed on one surface of the film by causing certain portions of an emulsion layer to be fixed to that surface, while other portions remain unfixed, it is desirable to scrub the image surface to remove the unfixed emulsion therefrom. For this purpose, rollers having a roughened or non-smooth scrubbing surface have been used to scrub such image surface. In prior apparatus and methods, the film to be processed is moved past the scrubbing roller or rollers in a relatively straight line, thus permitting relatively limited scrubbing contact between the peripheral scrubbing surface of the scrubbing rollers and the film. Such structure in prior art machines has given rise to several disadvantages. First, because of the speed differential between the scrubbing surface of the roller and the film, there is a tendency for the scrubbing roller to catch or snag, and thereby damage, the trailing or leading edges of the film as it moves past the scrubbing surface. Also because of the speed differential, the leading or trailing edge would sometimes buckle or be pushed ahead thus preventing sufficient and uniform scrubbing action on such edges. Additionally, the scrubbing process is quite inefficient due to the fact that the scrubbing surface of the roller and the film surface are in contact with each other only for a very short period of time as the film moves past the scrubbing roller.